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Camel

The camel is a hooved mammal recognized by its fatty deposits or ‘humps’ on its back.There are two different kinds of camels. The dromedary camels from the Middle East and Africa, and the bactrian camels from Asia. You can easily tell them apart because the dromedary camel has one hump on its back, while the bactrian has two humps.

Camels come in almost every shade of brown. They have big eyes, small ears, and a double row of long curly lashes that protect their eyes from desert sand and dust. Their feet are broad and flat feet with two large toes on each hoof. Fully-grown camels can reach over 6 feet tall at the shoulder, 7 feet tall at the hump and weigh over 1500 lbs.

Camels live in the desert, prairie or steppe habitats and are well adapted to their environment.

Although camels do not store water in their humps, they can go long periods of time, up to a week, without food or water and are well adapted to living in dry desert climates. Camels have very tough mouths and can eat almost anything without hurting it. This allows them to eat thorny desert plants easily. They can eat a huge variety of plants, from grasses to grains and other kinds of desert vegetation.

Camels are large, powerful animals and don’t have many natural predators besides humans. Gray wolves are the only non-human predator that target camels consistently.

Camels can kick in both directions with all four of their legs. Their legs are very powerful and can cause a serious injury with just one blow. Another of the camel’s defenses is ‘spitting’ They throw up a foul smelling greenish liquid from their stomach and spit it all over anything that is threatening or provoking it.

a camels thick fur actually protects them from the harsh desert sunlight and insulates them from the heat?

a full-grown camel can drink 53 gallons of water in three minutes?

about camels is their vomiting technique to keep away danger!

What’s your favorite thing about camels?

1 Comment

Chris
July 26, 2015

I had no idea that a camel could drink this much water. This is amazing! Have you ever ridden a camel. If so, how many humps did it have? What is your favorite camel. My favorite camel is the elusive Bactrain in the Mongolia.